Author : MD TAREQ HASSAN | Updated : 2021/03/18

Terminologies you should know

物件種別 (bukken shubetsu)・Property type

賃料 (Chinryō)・Rent

礼金(Reikin)・Key money

敷金(Shikikin)・Security deposit

専有面積(Sen’yū menseki)・Occupied area

間取り(Madori)・Floor plan

Letter Meaning approximate area
L Living room Over 8帖 (approx. 13m²)
D Dining room Over 5帖 (approx. 8m²)
K Kitchen About 4帖 (approx. 6.5m²)
DK Dining-kitchen 1 room between 8-14.5m²
LDK Living-dining-kitchen 1 room over 14.5m²
1R One room  
S Storage Room  

駅徒歩・Station walk

築年数・Building Age

Other filters while searching (条件)

Difficulties for foreigners to find property

The agents will try hard for you (because they will get paid if you sign contract), but there will be some known and unknown issues and because of that you would not be able to sign contract for the property you like.

For foreigners, UR賃貸住宅 is better. See: life-in-japan/UR賃貸住宅

Seismic standard

Online portals for finding rental properties

Searching properties

Online portal

Nearby real estate store

Online inquiry

It’s better for foreigners to try the followings (I did this)

The advanctange of the above approach is that, once the mail thread started with agent

内見・Property Viewing

Up to this point, assuming that everything went well and you scheduled a date for viewing the probably

Advance booking

Contract and payment

Agent might ask following documents

Credit card payment

Next